There more to a pride
by AlyNeko
Summary: Everyone's heard of Simba's story, but is there really so few lions in a pride? This tells of the adventures of 3 young cubs who have gone nearly unnoticed in the pride from the start but who's adventures were just as thrilling, only with less notice.
1. Chapter 1

Her fur became heated in the afternoon sun and she could feel her skin begin to burn under the intense rays the shone down without any protection onto the young cub. She slowly stood up, stumbling slightly as she tried to get her footing. She breathed heavily and looked around, squinting her eyes against the intense glare on the sun on the white sand she stood on.

"Where am i?" The young cup spoke, her words seemed to echo off of unseen walls and come back louder than before. She perked her ears and turned around, looking for any sign of life, but there was nothing, just a seemingly endless horizon of sand that surrounded her in every direction.

"Hello!" She called out, as loudly as she could, but the only answer was her unearthly echo. She began to run forward, not knowing where she was heading, and seeming as though she wasn't moving at all.

"Anyone! hello!" She called out again as she tried running faster, still her surroundings stood still, it was like her paws weren't toughing the ground.

"La-"

The cub stopped suddenly, she turned around frantically looking for the source of the sound, but there was no one around at all.

"Lay-"

Again the voice came, some unseen source was calling her, but all she could see was the waves of heat that came off of the sand around her.

"Hello? Who's there!" She called out, eyes scanning everything, but it was all going blurry, something wasn't right. Was she passing out? No something seemed different she was too alert, but her surroundings were all merging together, she couldn't tell where the sand stopped and the sky started anymore.

"Layla!"

Suddenly a sharp pain fell on her head and she shot up to her feet.

"What what what!"

Layla looked around, she was back in the den, the cool stone walls surrounding her, giving her a sense of sanctuary. The young cub sat down and looked around again, her eyes fell on two cubs sitting in front of her. One was a very lightly colored cub, nearly white but with a light yellow tint, this was Maisha. Next to her stood another cub, this one was a white cub with a nearly pink tint, this was Epesi, she stood leaning over Layla, a huge smirk on her maw.

"You okay, you were crying." Maisha stepped forward, looking rather concerned.

"Yeah you woke me up." Epesi said with a smirk, obviously worried was well but taking her normal playful attitude to the situation.

"Yeah, i'm fine." Layla said, looking down, her dream was kind of disturbing, but it could have been worse, it could have not been a dream. She looked up and saw the two cubs looking at her, obviously unbelieving.

"Sorry, i'm just getting over my nightmare, it was a zoomed in picture of Epesi's face." Said Layla, slapping on a smirk and crouching down into a play fight stance.

"Why you little!" Epesi yelled playfully as she pounced onto layla, the two of them getting into a playful sparing session. Maisha stood there watching, shaking her head slowly. "You two." She chuckled slightly and looked towards the den entrance. The sun had been up for a little while now and all the adults were outside, slowly beginning the days chores.


	2. Chapter 2

The female cubs came bounding out of the den, chasing each other wildly and laughing without pause for breathe. The three young lions ran down the rocky path towards where the older lionesses sat, basking in the morning sun light.

"Epesi!" The three cubs skid to a halt and all turned their heads towards the source of the voice. Epesi turned around and trotted towards a large beige lioness who lay under the shade of one of the few trees that decorated pride rock.

"Oh good morning mother, I didn't see you there." Epesi said with a huge smile, moving towards her mother and greeting her joyfully.

"And where are you three going?" Another voice spoke out, a nearly pure white lioness sat perched on a rock and was looking down on the two cubs that hadn't moved since the first voice sounded. Maisha looked up and smiled lovingly at her mother. "We were going to go to the watering hole." Stated the cub as she bounded up the rocks to meet her mother, it wasn't long before her mother had turned the greeting into a bathing session. Soon Epesi's mother was doing the same to her daughter. Layla sat still, watching the two cubs interact with their mothers, a light smile on her face, but with a soreness in her heart. There wasn't a chance her mother would greet her, let alone groom her, she was basically on her own and she couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy. Layla was snapped out of her daydreaming by a sudden impact and when she finally realized what had happened she was pinned to the ground with a pair of green eyes staring down at her.

"WAKE UP!" Epesi yelled into her face as she pinned Layla down. "I thought I woke you earlier with that smack, guess I should have hit harder." She said with a smirk. Layla shoved the lioness cub off of her and shook her fur clean of dust. "I am awake, you just got me off guard." She said, before tackling her friend to the ground, both were biting and tugging on the other playfully. Maisha smirked and left her mother's grasp so run towards her friends, she jumped off of the high rock she was on and landed in a pounce on top of the other two cubs, causing them both to cringe and struggle for freedom. "Cut it out you guys!" Said Maisha, laughing loudly. "Are we going or what?" she asked, climbing off of the other cubs. Epesi stood up and shook out her fur, leaving it rather fluffy, as it usually was. "Well I'm ready, Lay?" She looked down and saw the little brown cub laying motionless on the ground. "Layla!" Maisha cried, leaning down and trying to hear the younger cub breathing, but there wasn't a sound. Epesi jumped back and looked on in horror. "Lay?" She leaned in a little, Maisha ha bent her head down in level with the cubs, and was examining her in shock. Suddenly Layla sprung to life, tackling Maisha to the ground and tugging on her ear. "Mesh wit me." Layla spoke, Maisha's ear gripped in her jaws. Maisha screamed as Layla moved and was trying to fight her off, obviously ticked off at the trick which was played on her. Epesi simply laughing and pulled Layla off of the light yellow cub. "Nice one Lay, you really got us." Said Epesi, bumping Layla playfully.

Maisha simply huffed and began walking. "You two coming or what?" She spoke, not turning her head towards the two cubs. Layla and Epesi exchanged glances and ran after their friend, giggling as they ran.

The three young cubs bounded down the path towards the watering hole, stepping lively as they rushed to find some fun. Maisha stopped suddenly and looked around. "You guys hear that?" The other two cubs paused and looked back at Maisha. "Eh, no, lay?" Epesi said, tilting her head, trying to hear what the light yellow cub was talking about. Layla listened hard, she could hear, something, like a muffled wing beat. She looked to the sky and sure enough there was a little blue speck coming towards the three cubs. Maisha smiled and ran towards the speck. "Hey Val!" she said as she greeted the little blue bird. He flew down and landed on the white-ish cub's shoulder. Epesi ran over and greeted the bird along with Maisha. "Hey Val." The pink cat said, smiling at the little blue bird.


End file.
